Veteran Domer Tailgaters Have No Complaints
By Mike Siroky
As Marshall County Notre Dame football fans head to the Stadium Saturday for the clash with Stanford, they�ll be experiencing the halfway mark of the new home season.
Every year is an adjustment, but this year particularly so. There�s a new coach . . . actually the second new coach since the end of the previous season but that�s another story . . . and new rules for decorum.
Wait a minute.
Decorum at a football gathering?
No way.
As the late fictional US Congressman John Blutarsky might�ve said, would�ve said and probably did say during his own underclassmen days of partying at Faber College: � It ain�t over �til we say it�s over.�
The Notre Dame tailgaters contacted by The Pilot said the new rules just make sense and really don�t diminish the experience.
Basically, the University suggests everyone who has a ticket use it and attend the game instead of remaining in the parking areas. The University is trying to enhance the experience for true football fans, not for rowdy wanna-bes who just needed a place to drink away a Saturday afternoon.
�The tailgating rules are fine as far as I am concerned,� said Len Isban of Plymouth.
�You still park at The Stadium. Everything I�ve seen (in rules enforcement) is an improvement. There�s less trash and less of the kind of bad examples than what has been prevalent in the recent past.�
The Isbans -- the duo includes Len�s wife, JoAnn � have been attending Notre Dame home games and tailgating there for more than 20 seasons.,
The new rules, he said, �. . . work quite well. The University hasn�t said they don�t want people to tailgate; they want them to come and enjoy the game, enjoy the whole experience. It�s quite fun. We�re happy they�ve made the changes they did.�
He�s also happy to see the continuity of familiar faces in the sea of green around him.
�We see the Lieutenant Governor every weekend there,� Isban said of Joe Kernan. �It�s a big crowd and well-behaved.�
Of course, winning helps. The undefeated Irish surely will lose at least once this season. But, for now, the Isbans enjoy the spectacle and the show produced by coach Ty Willingham.,
�We�ve been coming . . . gosh., so many years now and this season the hope for improvement has been realized,� Isban said. �Ty has brought Notre Dame to respectability.�
The Isbans usually are accompanied by the three children in their lives who attended the University: Jessica, Michael and son-in-law Greg Payne.
Then there�s the Flynns of Plymouth, a brothers act, Mike and Pat. They work at Shamrock Homes, so this Irish thing is a thread in their lives. Pat�s wife, Laura is also a Domer.
�We�ve been attending since we were graduates of Notre Dame, in the �70s,� said Mike.
�I honestly think it�s a smart move to downplay the chances of too much alcohol and the effects of too much alcohol on people,� he said of the tailgating rules. �We have a nationwide reputation and we ought to act like it.�
The Flynns and friends come to the games together, eat and drink together and are in the Stadium once the weekly show gets under way.
�We are glad the University has started to stop over-inbibing,� said Mike. �And it stops the other problems, like people who break into vehicles while fans are in the Stadium, destructive acts like that.�
His brother agrees.
�We have our spot, we�ve had our spot for years,� said Pat. �We (the university�s fans) need to regulate the rowdy behavior which had gotten out hand. I don�t think it�s a bad thing. �
Pat�s wife, Laura is also an ND grad. She also likes the changes, Pat said.
Last season, for instance, the university had to ban charcoal grills because a few partyers were reguilarly dumpoing the grills into the storm sewer system, somethimes causing underground fires in the pipes.
"And you had to work to dump it in the water system,� Pat said. "Mostly, the coals were dumped where they were parked. All you needed to do was make it a gas grill. We have a gas grill now."
As for as the games themselves, Pat said, "I� am pretty proud of what he (Willingham) has brought back to the university, a disciplined team. I am tired of hearing about admission standards, I believe someone with a higher IQ can play the game."
Mike also is very happy with the results of his team.
�I was open-minded on Ty because he�s a new coach to our area and he has proven to be a nice influence on the players,� said Mike.
�He seems to have gotten to the core of what makes them tick.�
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